The present invention relates to oximetry sensors and, in particular, pulse oximetry sensors which include coded information relating to patients.
Pulse oximetry is typically used to measure various blood flow characteristics including, but not limited to, the blood-oxygen saturation of hemoglobin in arterial blood, the volume of individual blood pulsations supplying the tissue, and the rate of blood pulsations corresponding to each heartbeat of a patient. Measurement of these characteristics has been accomplished by use of a non-invasive sensor which passes light through a portion of the patient's tissue where blood perfuses the tissue, and photoelectrically senses the absorption of light in such tissue. The amount of light absorbed is then used to calculate the amount of blood constituent being measured.
The light passed through the tissue is selected to be of one or more wavelengths that are absorbed by the blood in an amount representative of the amount of the blood constituent present in the blood. The amount of transmitted light passed through the tissue will vary in accordance with the changing amount of blood constituent in the tissue and the related light absorption. For measuring blood oxygen level, such sensors have been provided with light sources and photodetectors that are adapted to operate at two different wavelengths, in accordance with known techniques for measuring blood oxygen saturation.
An encoding mechanism is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,708, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference. This mechanism relates to an optical oximeter probe which uses a pair of light emitting diodes (LEDs) to direct light through blood-perfused tissue, with a detector picking up light which has not been absorbed by the tissue. The operation depends upon knowing the wavelength of the LEDs. Since the wavelength of LEDs can vary, a coding resistor is placed in the probe with the value of the resistor corresponding to the actual wavelength of at least one of the LEDs. When the oximeter instrument is turned on, it first applies a current to the coding resistor and measures the voltage to determine the value of the resistor and thus the value of the wavelength of the LED in the probe.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,259,381 recognizes that the coded value of the wavelength of the red LED provided by a coding resistor may be inaccurate, since the actual wavelength can vary with temperature. Accordingly, this patent teaches including a temperature sensor in the oximeter probe to measure the actual temperature. With the actual temperature, and the coded wavelength value, a look-up table can be consulted to determine the actual LED wavelength for that temperature.
Another method of storing coded information regarding the characteristics of the LEDs is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 4,942,877 assigned to Minolta. This patent discloses using an EPROM memory to store digital information, which can be provided in parallel or serially from the sensor probe to the remote oximeter. The memory is described as storing coefficients for the saturation equation, wavelength subwavelength (where 2 peaks for LED), half-width of wavelength spectrum emitted by LED, intensity of LEDS or ratio, and on time of LEDS (written by the processor).
Other examples of coding probe characteristics exist in other areas. Multiple calibration values are sometimes required, with this making the circuitry more complex or requiring many leads. In U.S. Pat. No. 4,446,715, assigned to Camino Laboratories, Inc., a number of resistors are used to provide coded information regarding the characteristics of a pressure transducer. U.S. Pat. No. 3,790,910 discloses another pressure transducer with a ROM storing characteristics of the individual transducer. U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,984 shows another probe with digital characterization information stored in a PROM, which is read serially using a shift register.
Typically, the coding element is mounted in the probe itself. For instance, U.S. Pat. No. 4,621,643 shows the coding resistor mounted in the probe element itself. In addition, U.S. Pat. No. 5,246,003 shows the coding resistor being formed with a printed conductive material on the probe itself.
In some devices, an electrical connector coupled by a cable to a device attached to a patient may include a coding element. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 3,720,199 shows an intra-aortic balloon catheter with a connector between the catheter and a console. The connector includes a resistor with a value chosen to reflect the volumetric displacement of the particular balloon. U.S. Pat. No. 4,684,245 discloses a fiberoptic catheter with a module between the fiberoptic and electrical wires connected to a processor. The module converts the light signals into electrical signals, and includes a memory storing calibration signals so the module and catheter can be disconnected from the processor and used with a different processor without requiring a recalibration.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,059 teaches using a modulated signal to provide the coded data to a remote analyzer. U.S. Pat. No. 5,429,129 shows using a voltage regulator to produce a specific voltage value in response to an attempt to read by the analyzer.
Hewlett-Packard Company U.S. Pat. No. 5,058,588 teaches an oximeter sensor with an encoding element that could be resistor, ROM, or customized integrated circuit. The encoding element encodes the type of sensor (in particular, type indicating area of placement on body—finger, ear, foot, arm; also, the type of sensor can indicate transmission/reflection type, or adult/neonate {indicating correction to be performed on-theoretical oxygen-saturation, allow switching between physiological limits such as minimum/maximum pulse rates for adults/neonates}; the maximum driving current may be adapted according to type of sensor, and contact of sensor with tissue can be tested by means of an attenuation measurement if sensor type is known).
Nellcor U.S. Pat. No. 5,645,059, the disclosure of which is hereby incorporated herein by reference, teaches coding information in sensor memory used to provide pulse modulated signal, to indicate the type of sensor (finger, nose), the wavelength of a second LED, the number of LEDs, the numerical correction terms to the standard curves, and an identifier of the manufacturer.
A number of catheter patents also discuss encoding information in the catheter. Sentron U.S. Pat. No. 4,858,615 teaches encoding the type of sensor, type number, serial number, date of production, safe use life of the sensor, correction data for non-linearity, pressure sensitivity, offset, and temperature sensitivity.
Interflo Medical Published PCT Application No. PCT/US92/08263, Publication No. WO 93/06776 teaches encoding patient specific data, size, manufacture date, batch number, sterilization date, expiration date, transducer number and type, manufacturer's name and address, thermistor heating element resistance, filament efficiency, program segments or patient historical data, format version for the calibration data, trademark information, catheter unique serial number, ship date, other date and time information, security code to identify manufacturer, thermal mass, filament composition, coefficient of resistance, layout byte, checksum, copyright, number of seconds since a certain date, patient weight, patient height, timestamp of 1st CO data point, and a count of all CO data points in EEPROM.
Dulex-Ohmeda of Boulder, Colo. markets an oximeter sensor product that encodes data into resistor values representing pointers to a lookup table containing coefficients (as in U.S. Pat. No. 4,700,708) as well as indicating a range of LED drive current to use with the sensor. The LEDs are driven with a higher or lower drive currents depending upon the value of the resistor in a particular sensor.
Honeywell U.S. Pat. No. 4,303,984 (expires Dec. 14, 1999) describes a memory which stores characterization information, such as linearization information for a pressure sensor. Alnor Instrument U.S. Pat. No. 5,162,725 describes storing both calibration and ID information in a sensor memory. Seimans U.S. Pat. No. 5,016,198 describes a coding memory in a sensor with data for defining sensor's characteristic curve. McBean U.S. Pat. No. 5,365,462 describes a date code in a sensor memory. Honeywell U.S. Pat. No. 4,734,873 describes a pressure sensor with a PROM storing coefficients for a polynomial. Robert Bosch U.S. Pat. No. 4,845,649 describes a PROM in a sensor storing correcting data.
McBean U.S. Pat. No. 5,371,128 relates to EEPROM in sensor with sensor type code and calibration data. McBean U.S. Pat. No. 5,347,476 describes an accuracy code. Otax U.S. Pat. No. 5,528,519 shows a PROM in a connector for oximeter.
Square D Company U.S. Pat. No. 5,070,732 shows calibration data in a sensor memory. Baxter U.S. Pat. No. 5,720,293 talks about different calibration information for a catheter, including a security code (encryption is discussed), serial number, model number, ID data such as calibration, manufacture, sterilization and ship date or other date and time information, a software program segment, security code for identifying whether sensor made by same manufacturer as monitor manufacturer, filament or transducer resistance, heat transfer coefficient, thermal mass, filament composition and coefficient of resistance, layout byte, copyright notice, checksum, random data bytes. Porsche U.S. Pat. No. 5,008,843 describes a sensor with EEPROM ID and characteristics data.